Shoplifter stuffed trolleys with loot

Christchurch’s boldest shoplifter was often stopped by staff but he also got away with $4160 of goods.

James Andrew Dumper’s approach was straightforward: grab stuff, fill a trolley, walk out.

The 25-year-old has gone through alcohol rehabilitation before, and is asking for more.

When he was finally caught this month, he told police that he had been ‘‘in a bad frame of mind due to a relationship ending’’.

Defence counsel Tim Fournier did not apply for Dumper’s release on bail after he pleaded guilty to eight theft charges in the Christchurch District Court yesterday.

He said the offending had been ‘‘a bit of a binge and a splurge’’ and Dumper was seeking placement for more residential rehabilitation.

Judge Emma Smith remanded Dumper in custody for sentencing on September 23.

In one incident, Dumper walked out of Farmers in Northlands with duvet inners, a duvet cover, and an epilator, priced at a total of $2649, and the goods were not recovered.

He swapped the items for alcohol. He was caught when he went back to the shop four days later and was recognised by a security staff member.

On July 13, he tried to push a trolley loaded with $700 of meat out of Pak ’n Save Moorhouse but was turned back by security. He then failed to manoeuvre the trolley out of the staff exit.

After that failure, he went to a liquor shop and walked out with an $80 bottle of tequila down his pants.

He went back to the Moorhouse supermarket three days later, filled a trolley with groceries and walked out with it. A staff member asked him to go back but he kept walking and when the staff member didn’t give up, he abandoned the trolley after 50 metres.

On July 18, Dumper trundled out of Pak ’n Save Hornby with $719 of meat in a trolley. He was not stopped and the meat was not found.

Three days later, he went back to the same store and loaded up $978 of groceries but this time he was chased by the store manager and had to abandon the trolley before he fled.

He walked out of The Warehouse in Belfast with a trolley full of $711 of household items.

Five days later he was challenged by staff when he loaded up $566 of electrical goods at The Warehouse in Barrington Street, and had to abandon the trolley again.